People Are Calling Out Tarte Cosmetics for a Lack of Diversity

A Twitter user recently called out Tarte Cosmetics for a seeming lack of diversity in their product offerings — and the post has since gone viral.

On Friday, January 12, @urbandoll posted an image of PopSugar's Tarte Shape Tape Foundation swatches shown on an arm of someone with darker skin. "Is @tartecosmetics serious?" she wrote in her caption. From the photo, it's clear that the majority of the shades are for lighter complexions, and the few deeper tones that can be seen have very little variation.

Other users replied to her tweet, agreeing with her sentiment. "I find it ridiculous how brands around for years have limited af shade ranges," one user wrote. Another person said: "Can we talk about how there isn't even a foundation match for the arm?" And plenty of commenters suggested that the original poster try Fenty Beauty; the brand’s foundation comes in forty different shades.

Photos of the Shape Tape swatches have been shared several times on social media with similar thoughts. "I’m lmao @ Tarte trying to show their diversity by including a man in this when there’s literally THREE dark shades," one person wrote alongside another photo. "This isn't diversity. Not even the model used has a matching shade!" another person said.

Others in the Twitter conversation refuted these claims. "I work at Ulta and this is NOT an accurate representation of Tarte’s shade range. In reality it’s very inclusive," one person said.

This isn't the first time that Tarte has been called out for lack of diversity in their products. Last year, Twitter user @stormycash_ shared a photo of Tarte's bb cream, adding: "The reason I don't buy @tartecosmetics bb cream is cuz of this. Such a lack of diversity. Really Tarte? This is the darkest you could do?" And another makeup consumer recently posted: "I personally won't support a brand which thinks one deeper foundation color amounts to diversity, take your brand and go!"

Updated Jan 17, 3:36 P.M.: Following the backlash, Tarte released a statement to Popsugar stating that they had planned to gradually add more shades. "We're always pushing ourselves and suppliers to work as quickly as possible," they told the publication. 10 more shades are expected to launch to expand the existing range. Additionally, the brand shared that these shades had already been in the works at the time of the initial launch, but were not yet ready for release.

Teen Vogue has reached out to Tarte Cosmetics for comment.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect the source and product of the swatch in question.